Ex-skater Tonya Harding wasn't on illegal drugs, friend says

YACOLT, Clark County — Linda Wilmot is concerned that a series of episodes involving former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding on Sunday will be misinterpreted as something more than a bad interaction between Harding and some asthma medication.

"I just want people to know the truth — that she was not on illegal drugs," said Wilmot, Harding's friend.

According to authorities, Harding first called 9-1-1 at 4:50 a.m. Sunday from Yacolt Towing in northern Clark County. According to police records, she reported that four men and a woman tried to break into her vehicle and stashed weapons on her property, said Sgt. Tim Bieber of the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

Harding said the suspects followed her and a tow-truck driver to the tow yard, Bieber said.

Harding told a deputy who was sent to the business that she was on new medication and was having an adverse reaction to it, he said.

The deputy called her story "implausible" and said she was "agitated" and was "glancing everywhere," Bieber said.

She was "frustrated that others can't see the people she sees," the report said.

At 9 a.m., Wilmot called 9-1-1 from her home just north of Yacolt to say a friend — who turned out to be Harding — was at her home "tweaking out, seeing animals," but was not violent, Bieber said.

Bieber said a deputy took Harding home and checked her property but found nothing amiss.

The deputy advised Harding to see a doctor, he said.

Wilmot would not offer details about what Harding said or did inside her home.

On Wednesday, Linda L. Lewis, Harding's friend and manager, released a statement saying Harding "had changed her over-the-counter allergy medication."